rm

SYNOPSIS
rm [OPTION]... FILE...
DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents the GNU version of rm. rm removes each
specified file. By default, it does not remove directories.
If the -I or --interactive=once option is given, and there are more
than three files or the -r, -R, or --recursive are given, then rm
prompts the user for whether to proceed with the entire operation. If
the response is not affirmative, the entire command is aborted.
Otherwise, if a file is unwritable, standard input is a terminal, and
the -f or --force option is not given, or the -i or --interac-
tive=always option is given, rm prompts the user for whether to remove
the file. If the response is not affirmative, the file is skipped.
OPTIONS
Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).
-f, --force
ignore nonexistent files, never prompt
-i prompt before every removal
-I prompt once before removing more than three files, or when
removing recursively. Less intrusive than -i, while still giv-
ing protection against most mistakes
--interactive[=WHEN]
prompt according to WHEN: never, once (-I), or always (-i).
Without WHEN, prompt always
--one-file-system
when removing a hierarchy recursively, skip any directory that
is on a file system different from that of the corresponding
command line argument
--no-preserve-root
do not treat `/' specially
--preserve-root
do not remove `/' (default)
-r, -R, --recursive
remove directories and their contents recursively
-v, --verbose
explain what is being done
--help display this help and exit
--version
Note that if you use rm to remove a file, it is usually possible to
recover the contents of that file. If you want more assurance that the
contents are truly unrecoverable, consider using shred.
AUTHOR
Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard M. Stallman, and Jim
Meyering.
REPORTING BUGS
Report rm bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU
GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
SEE ALSO
unlink(1), unlink(2), chattr(1), shred(1)
The full documentation for rm is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If
the info and rm programs are properly installed at your site, the com-
mand
info coreutils 'rm invocation'
should give you access to the complete manual.
GNU coreutils 7.4 January 2015 RM(1)